can't sleep. >> congratulations. i fully support the friday wedding. it's a strong move. we need to see more of it. have the wedding, get that out of the way, then another night of parties. good call. what else do you have? >> john on twitter says i'm wondering if i can finally have a chuck todd. >> still. we made one mention of the chuck todd button. it blew out of proportion. we had newt gingrich handing them out to the crowd. we have a couple left. we need some kind of contest. >> i'll work on that. i love willie in the a.m. playing madden '13 and watching "way too early," but an important correction, it's the "b" button not the "y" button. >> i tried to make a cool reference that you hit the "y" button. screwed once again by my producers. i can't even get that right. "morning joe" starts right now.

>> what i said was exactly the same conclusion the white house reached, which was that the statement was inappropriate. that's why they backed away from it as well. >> they didn't say they were showing sympathy for the attackers. >> i think it was not directly applicable and appropriate for the setting. i think it should have been taken down. and apparently the white house felt the same way. >> no direction response when the president said you shoot first and aim later? >> well, this is politics. i'm not going to worry about the campaign. >> good morning. it's friday, september 14th. welcome to "morning joe." let's just turn the page, everybody. we're moving on from it. he's moving on. we're moving on. >> he is moving on. >> just turn the page. it should not make you worry about anything. >> it's just politics. i'm not going to worry about it. >> right. >> i'm not going to worry about the campaign. >> with us on set, msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin and national affairs editor for "new york" magazine, todd heilmann.

>> they can hold it. >> contiguous. >> right angles to each other. orthagonal. >> do we look at polls? >> a couple other things going on here, bernanke. trying to do whatever he can do to force a job recovery. it's certainly not happening out of washington, d.c. so the fed's moving very quickly. and the middle east turmoil spreads. but i think one hopeful development -- i guess one of the things that i was really surprised by, we were talking yesterday about how mitt romney made that terrible mistake in our opinion, at least in my opinion. i won't speak for anybody else. i was really stunned when the president -- you know, because of course republicans were saying goo hardsay saying go harder, go harder, set the entire region on fire. i actually went the other way. i was actually taken aback when the president said that the egyptians were not our allies.

whoa, whoa, wait. these are our most important arab partners, and yes, we've had a chaotic week and some bad things are happening, but, you know, this is a time you do what the president did i guess yesterday and call the guy up and say hey, buddy, right here. you do not want to go this direction. and he did. and i think that was a great call by the president. i think he made a terrible mistake, and we can get past it by saying that our most historic partner starting in 1979 with your dad and jimmy carter is no longer a, quote, ally. >> well, we give them a lot of military aid, so i hope they're our ally. >> yeah. but that means nothing. pakistanis, billions. >> the government tried to walk it back. one of the big critiques of conservatives of the media this week is that there hasn't been enough scrutiny of the president

and his conduct during all of this. and i think that's absolutely fair and right to point out. >> sure. >> although if you look at george bush after 9/11, a much bigger crisis, obviously, but the press wasn't inclined, and democrats andclined to critique him. he made plenty of mistakes in the immediate aftermath. in the time of national security crisis, there's a tendency to cut the president some slack. >> at least for 24 to 48 hours until you have a dead united states ambassador come back home. i think that was the unbecoming thing. >> but the egypt mistake is an interesting mistake and i think deserves some scrutiny. >> it was an interesting mistake. i think we can get past it. i think it is very good news that the president spoke with president morsi and let him know, this is not acceptable. this is not how you guys behave. and john, from all the report s i've read, the egyptians said message received. the muslim brotherhood, even,

said message received. we're going to pull back. why is this important? this is so important for so many reasons in the middle east. the least of which not being israel and trying to keep -- trying to keep israel safe. >> well, you think about it, you know, the historic u.s. allies in that region, all of those relationships are somewhat more tenuous and trfragile than just few years ago, whether it saudi arabia. you want to have that relationship be strong. i think the president was speaking the truth which is that it's a government in transition. they're trying to figure out what their relationship is. i do think it was very striking, the difference in tone between the phone calls he made to the leaders in libya versus the leaders in egypt. and the leaders in egypt, i think, morsi heard the difference between how he talked to the libyans which was full of love and support versus the way he talked to morsi which had a little bit more of a stern, you know, that tone he was talking about. >> exactly. hey, look at me, buddy.

this is not going to work. i will say for the jackals running around capitol hill that we need to not fund either egypt or libya moving forward, seriously, please go inside, wrap yourself in bubble wrap, stay away from sharp objects. you are a danger to the long-term health and national security of the united states of america. now that we've got that off the plate, willie, we can move forward. and talk about the conservative critique. and i think it's a fair critique. the conservative critique that all you guys in the media were talking about mitt romney. you should have talked about the warnings with the embassy, et cetera, et cetera. and yes, perhaps we should have. but you know who didn't allow us to do that? >> mitt romney. >> mitt romney. if mitt romney had kept his mouth shut, if he had not acted like a rank amateur, if he had not embarrassed himself -- and by the way, internally the campaign understands they screwed up, he's moved on, they know that. so no conservatives can say oh, the mainstream media, blah,

blah, blah. they know how badly they screwed up, and they were having to fight internally before he even went out and did it. but romney got in the way of the media looking at the president going -- what happened here? how did this happen? now, those questions are going to be asked in the coming weeks, but they weren't asked in the first 24 hours because romney was holding this horrific, irresponsible press conference. >> it's significant and important, what mitt romney said. if he wants to be the commander in chief, if he wants to be president, we should know how he would conduct himself on the world stage. we should know what he would have done, not just his critique of president obama but how he would have handled this crisis. but it's also true that we should evaluate. the real story is not mitt romney. the real story is what happened in the middle east? what's our relationship like with egypt? we give them $1.5 billion a year. why aren't they able to protect the embassy? president morsi again this morning, we just talked to jim maceda from cairo calling for more protests, peaceful protests, but he's calling for

protests around mosques. so the question is are we going to have to send out the marines to fortify our embassies every time some mouth breather puts a movie up on youtube? we need to talk about our relationship with egypt and what kind of ally they are. of course they are. but we need to talk about our relationship. >> we'll get to more politics. first let's get an update. new waves of anti-american protests sweeping the middle east. demonstrations have erupted across 11 countries including iran, iraq and sudan. right now in cairo, protesters are gathering for a fourth straight day outside the u.s. embassy there. let's go live to cairo for an update on the situation with nbc's jim maceda. jim, what can you tell us? >> reporter: hi, mika. well, right now it's relatively quiet compared to what we heard earlier this morning because prayers started about ten minutes ago. so we'll watch now how this unfolds after the prayers. there are several hundred protesters who set up camp overnight in tahrir square just down behind me to my right.

they tried to make another move on the u.s. embassy early this morning. so there was more tear gas fired by riot police, thrown back by the demonstrators, some stone throwing. what we notice now is that there are huge concrete blocks cutting off access to the embassy just in case. there was also a march around tahrir square by a group of about 100 or 150 protesters. you hear that tear gas going off behind me. marching around, calling for -- chanting "god is great" and the usual type of islamic chants that we hear. i was telling willie earlier, this has had the feel, up until today, of a protest really taking place inside a bubble. always near the embassy. a cat-and-mouse standoff, as you say, in its fourth day while life goes on quite normally here with weddings and what have you in the rest of cairo. today that could change because morsi, president morsi and the

muslim brotherhood have called for nationwide protests. and we've got to underscore that these are supposed to be peaceful and dignified protests. that's what he's called for after friday prayers. so joe, i think that morsi is getting the message. these protests will be organized by the muslim brotherhood. they are to take place outside of mosques throughout the country. and that might take the pressure off of what's going on here behind me and these protesters. but you know, it's very volatile. these protesters, many of them are calling for the burning of the anti-islam film and the hanging to death of the so-called u.s. producers or the producers of the u.s. film. back to you. >> nbc's jim maceda live in cairo. thank you, jim. so coming off the political conventions, we do have some updates for you on the polls. president obama is leading mitt romney in three key battleground states. the president has a five-point lead over romney in virginia and florida. and in ohio, his lead is up to

seven points. >> and of course, john heilmann, these are all states that george w. bush won in 2004. virginia's a little wider than we could have expected. florida, a five-point lead in such a conservative state. this late in the game with few undecided voters is really telling. but the ohio number, again, continues to be -- >> devastating. >> -- the dagger in the romney campaign's heart if they can't -- if they can't pull that out and make that a closer race. seven points in ohio is devastating. the right track/wrong tracks in these states, all much better than they are in the rest of america. in ohio, the right track, 45% of ohio voters think that the country's headed in the right direction. >> look at those three numbers up there. 49, 49, 50, those are all, you know, the obvious point to make. you know, the president -- at 50 in ohio, those numbers are all

approaching, you know, the numbers that you need to win those states. >> yep. >> and they're places the president, even though he's had a lead in those states, he hasn't been at 49% and 50%, number one. number two, the ohio number is incredibly important. and it's a state where, because of the strength of organized labor, the president's always had -- >> and you were saying yesterday ohio is one of the few states where labor still really matter. if you're sitting at 50% in the polls before you take in the turnout impact of that, it's tough. >> and then you step away from ohio and virginia, which are states where the president has led consistently over this race, and you look at florida, a state that's been the weaker of those three states, the weakest, for him to have opened up a five-point lead in florida where the economy is not as good, that's just a troubling set of numbers for romney across the board. >> it is. again, let's put all of this in perspective, mike halperin, michael dukakis was 18, 19 points ahead after the democratic convention back in 1988. but this is not 1988.

this has been a deadlocked race for months now. and the conventions did have an impact. i think republicans have reason to fear after the romney gaffe the past couple of days. those numbers may spread even more. and then you go to colorado. here's another swing state, a state that i've always suspected that in the end romney would end up winning. a new poll out in colorado shows the same thing. barack obama up by five percentage points. >> i think that for romney to improve his position, he's going to have to do something that he's not really exhibited yet. >> here's the poll of likely colorado voters. >> close to 50. he's going to have to raise his game. the associated press has a story today that says that romney's going to come back by putting on more tv ads and working harder. and then they quote -- they quote a woman -- they quote a woman named lillian. >> tv ads. >> lillian glass, a los angeles-based body language expert who says about romney, he's turned into a different

person. he's become more passionate, more emotional, more dynamic. >> wait, wait. the associated press is actually -- >> quoting lillian glass. >> body language expert? >> this woman comments. >> she's an expert. i would say i don't see what ms. glass sees, but i think if romney's going to have a chance to get back in this, he needs to do exactly what she says he's already done. he needs to become more compassionate, emotional, dynamic and a communicator. he has not done that yet. >> he's gripping the microphone as opposed to holding it like a teacup. >> he used to hold it like a teacup. >> she's right about what needs to happen. i just haven't seen it yet. >> she's a body language expert. they're going to do more 30-second ads, but they've been doing the 30-second ads. i think mitt romney needs to tell people what he'll do when he's president of the united states. >> commercials can have an impact as well as money, mark. very hard. and in ohio you have sort of the

not only the economic situation overall in terms of the numbers, but spillover from the auto bailout. >> yeah. >> which has helped the president a lot. can money and ads work to compete with that? >> well -- >> historically, at least, you know, television advertising, late in the game against an incumbent president, it has not traditionally -- not on margins this large. you know, the most of -- people have been living with barack obama for almost four years. they know the economy's not good. most of the bad stuff about obama is baked in for a lot of voters. and to try to move big numbers, not on the margins but like substantial numbers with tv ads in the last two months of the race, when the ads are -- when the airwaves are saturated with ads -- >> first of all, willie, how surprising that we hear the word "baked" from john heilmann on a friday. >> he is half-baked. >> i'm more than half-baked, mika. >> more than--baked. >> great. >> baked in is an expression i was going to use because unlike

'88, unlike 1980, you know, there aren't a lot of undecided voters. if you really dig into the numbers, you've got 3%, maybe 4% undecided. fewer undecided voters than ever before. so for mitt romney, if romney's down even by two or three percentage points going into the final week or two, he's going to have to pull 80% of the undecided voters. that's just not going to happen. and it's certainly not going to happen because of 30-second ads. >> and this campaign's been going on for well over a year. the country knows mitt romney. the country has a feeling about who he is. they don't know, though, what exactly he'd do. and that's, i think, his opportunity. he's got two months to lay out in stark terms specifically what he would do on the economy. instead of just ripping president obama about what's happening overseas, how would you handle the situation? some of his aides are coming out this morning and explaining a little bit what he would have done. get specifics. we feel like we know who you are. now tell us exactly what you'd do. but if you look inside those numbers, if he loses florida,

it's over. there's no chance. we're talking about ohio. but if he's down five in florida, forget it. >> if he loses florida, it's over. if he loses ohio, it's over. i'm sorry. he's got to win those. and losing virginia makes it much more difficult as well. >> so what's a campaign to do in a state like this, at a junction like this? is it time for a big speech on policy with details and prescriptions, or that will be even more contrived than everything else we've seen? >> no, tell people what you believe. i think also, whoever is advising mitt romney, whoever is running this campaign is a disaster. i'm not going to point any fingers. i don't know exactly who it is. but whoever is running his campaign day to day and whispering in his ear is a disaster. they are making one terrible mistake after another. whoever was ultimately in charge for the convention, having a bumbling clint eastwood following one of the most political films i've ever seen at a convention about mitt

romney screwed up, whoever told him to go out and try to make political hay of an ambassador being murdered overseas, whoever is telling him, as "the wall street journal" says, to have as a preexisting condition a feckless campaign, again, is engaging in political malpractice. mitt romney has to tell people what he believes in, what he's going to do. and he's going to have to be bold about it. he's too risk averse. >> from what you're seeing, does he have it in him? >> i don't know. i don't think he does. is mitt romney the one running this campaign? >> he makes a lot of the decisions, but he's going to have to have it in him. if he doesn't have two months to elevate his game and show people what he believes, what he would do differently, a foreign policy address, but also tell people more about the economy than he's done so far. and the debates are just not

enough. >> they're not. they're too short. >> here's the tragedy for republicans. the tragedy for republicans is the fact that they are running against a guy who's spent $5 trillion. got us $5 trillion deeper in debt, biggest stimulus plan ever, health care boondoggle as far as we're concerned, a trillion dollar deficit every year, unemployment still high, right track/wrong track. and president obama, if you look at his speech, he's got no plans moving forward on how he's going to revive this economy. nothing new. no ideas. he is lost intellectually, and yet romney can't provide a contrast to that because he's not saying anything either. >> well, i think the president is certainly running a very safe campaign because they're very confident they're going to win. they don't see the need to put out bold plans. you can criticize that legitimately. but i think they're running a very safe campaign. it's interesting to me, given all the criticism that romney has taken, just as the an throw

po throwpological, and there's never been a discussion about a big public shake-up. every presidential cycle, you think about the gore and kerry campaigns, going back cycle after cycle -- >> what about ronald reagan firing john sears? it happens all the time. >> it happens all the time. historically, even if campaigns that win, there's often a reboot that becomes necessary where the candidate finally says, if nothing else than to turn the media page, he throws out all of his top advisers, brings in a new team. it's surprising that we've never had that conversation around romney. he had a hard time getting past rick santorum and others in the primary. there's been unrest. i wonder if we might have that discussion. the second thing quickly, this first debate, mark is right. he can't just turn it around with one debate. but boy, given where the conservative intelligencia is now, where things are around him, this first debate, the

level of pressure on him is so high because if he doesn't perform really well and clearly win that debate, it seems to me like a lot of the republican party is going to say, this is dole '96. we're done here. let's focus on the senate and house. >> you know, the conservative int intelligencia has turned on him. there are some things that they will not say publicly. there are some things they will not write publicly. but behind the scenes, they're all talking dole '96. george h.w. bush '92. this past week, they've really privately written this guy off, despite the fear and loathing that they have about a second obama term. it is so depressing. so depressing that they feel like they had to settle for john mccain four years ago, a guy that went out of his way to stick, you know, a sharp stick in their eye any chance he had a chance to poke at conservatives, he would. and now they're having to deal

with mitt romney. this is terrible for the conservative movement, terrible for the republican party, and a lot of us believe pretty darn bad for america. >> part of why they've jumped so quickly to that is, romney is for them turning out to be exactly what they feared. can't relate to people. can't talk about obamacare because of massachusetts health care. >> they're hamstrung. >> bain capital, all the things that they talked about in the nominating process, for them is coming true right now. coming up, we're going to talk to the former governor of florida, jeb bush, jon huntsman, eugene robinson and chuck todd. up next, the top stories in the "politico playbook." also, don't miss "willie's week in review." >> i wouldn't dream of it. >> i can't wait. that's going to be fun. is it a good one? don't let us down. but first, todd santos with a check on the weekend forecast. todd. >> hey there, mika. good morning, guys.

looks like a beautiful setup across a good stretch of the country. there are a few showers. one of them -- i know this has sounded like a broken record, florida with some of those chances. same story down towards, say, hilton head, south carolina, may see a few light showers. if you're headed out to the golf course, may see a chance of thunderstorms. south florida, certainly some of those chances on the i-95 corridor especially later this afternoon. once you get up towards boston, new york, beautiful clear skies initially. you do see some of those low clouds pushing in from the west. starting to see increasing chance for showers. buffalo back down towards pittsburgh during the daytime at least to start off the day. temperatures for your friday. again, not so bad across the east coast itself. we'll see some better chance for light showers to make their way into the new york city area maybe late tonight, early tomorrow morning. so if you're one of those super late-night people, you may see at least a few showers. looks good for the remainder of

your saturday. we'll have more coming up and certainly more "morning joe" right after this. ♪ ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

26 past the hour. time now to take a look at the "morning papers." >> this is my favorite part of the show. >> yes, from the parade of papers, the "chicago tribune." striking teachers and the school board are reportedly getting closer to a deal. talks ended for the day after midnight and are expected to begin again this morning, although details of a potential agreement are still unclear, it is possible the union could vote on a tentative plan in the coming days to get students back in school by monday. >> you know how this is going to work? >> how's it going to work? >> with montgomery burns going, i have a figure, and i think, well, you'll accept it. and he writes a zero. and that's rahm emanuel. pass it across the table and the teachers union will go, we'll take it!

we'll take it! >> that sounds great. >> yeah, that sounds great. >> at least they won't have to give back any money. >> "the washington post," cash-strapped european governments are considering taxing the vatican to make up for budget deficits. lots of luck, fellas. in italy, they called for attacks on church properties. but the church has its own financial difficulties. the vatican is running its worst deficit in over a decade. >> "usa today," starting in march, new york city will ban sodas and other sweet drinks over 16 ounces. >> i'll just buy two. >> the ban proposed by mayor michael bloomberg passed city council yesterday. are you all stunned and surprised that it did? >> i'll just buy two. >> you shouldn't be. okay, that happened yesterday. drinks made of 100% juice or more than 50% mimg are not affected because they are, in essence, more healthy. >> you know what i'm going to do, willie? i'm just going to buy two. >> you know what? you can do that, you idiot. >> it doesn't impact 7-elevens, it should be pointed out.

>> oh, the big gulp? you get a freaking bucket. what is wrong with people? oh. >> you get two straw in that. >> in awe. buy those things and sit down in their cars with their buckets on their laps. it's unbelievable! >> do that thing again. >> that's disgusting! >> you asked the question. what is wrong with people? the answer is -- >> they're addicted to the sugars, and they can't stop. and there's lots of different foods. >> sugars. can i get one thought out? so people asked, you asked what's wrong with people? >> kwyes. >> nothing that can't be fixed with a big gulp. >> bill clinton said that in his inaugural address. >> stir. >> that's why you need the ban. and it's not about discipline because actually there's some science behind it. in sunday's "parade," the fall preview with the stars of the new show "nashville." and also nbc's "go on."

willie, what's going on? >> connie britain, how cool is she? >> she is so cool. and i have no idea who she is. >> she's cool. she was in "friday night lights." >> she is awesome. i love her. she's the best. connie selleca. i thought that's who you were talking about. connie mack's going to have his own nbc show? that's crazy. i've heard his son's running for something, too. >> with a pretty colorful life. >> okay. you know, you guys are the biggest -- >> thursday night football. green bay packers trying to get back on track at home, and they got an awful lot of help from vanderbilt's own jay cutler. throwing many complete passes to guys in green jerseys. >> also he pushed his own linemen. is that a bad sign? [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup

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we are the men of steel. >> we are. thanks for spilling yogurt. >> time for sports. there was fear and loathing at lambeau field because the packers lost in the opening week game to the 49ers. they actually were calling this -- it was week two -- but a must-win for the packers. they were. packers hosting the rival bears. two minutes left in the first half. i think we call this trickeration. green bay lines up for a field goal, but the fake is on.

>> wait! >> the holder flips the ball out to tom crabtree. he goes 27 yards. touchdown. 10-0. there's the lambeau leap. terrible night, i hate to say, for jay cutler because he went to the vanderbilt university. cutler looking for his old vandy teammate earl bennett, picked off. one of four interceptions thrown by cutler. that led to another packers field goal to make it 13-0. fourth quarter, familiar connection for the packers fans. pump left, throw down the middle. aaron rodgers to donald driver. 26 yards. that puts it away. packers beat the bears, 23-10. they're back on track at 1-1. college football -- >> cutler, by the way, man, he's got an attitude. he's already pushed his own lineman last night. >> i think he bumped into him. it was an inadvertent contact. >> that is not a good. you pay for that. at some point you pay for that. >> he's not a sunny guy. talented. >> vanderbilt guys all have kind of an attitude.

>> you think so? that's kind of the thread that runs through them. >> river runs through it. >> got to show you this play, south carolina/rutgers. watch the move here. juwan jamison takes the ball, finds the crease and spins with the unbelievable move here. watch what he does. >> mika, look at this. >> one more time. this is an athlete making a play. >> whoa! >> shake, bake, spin. 41 yards for the touchdown. >> looked like allen iverson, like a crossover move on the football field. >> rutgers wins, 23-13. >> what happened in baseball, man? >> let's get to it. orioles/yankees still deadlocked on top of the a.l. east standings. the orioles keep winning. they did it again yesterday afternoon against the rays. up a run in the eighth. ben zobrist, a little chopper. the run crosses so the rays tie the game at 2-2. so we're tied. jump ahead, extra innings. 14th inning. runners on first and second for

manny ma chachadmachado. rookie, remember he made that sandlot defensive play yesterday. comes through in the clutch with the bat this time. orioles win 3-2, second walkoff win in as many days. they keep the pressure on the yankees. >> by the way, they're beating a team that was tied with them. >> yes. >> when this series started. it isn't like they're backing into anything. this was a do-or-die series for both teams. >> and they swept them. they swept the tampa bay rays. >> how about the red sox? >> now the yankees have the pressure. they already know they won. let's go to fenway, shall we? scotty podsednik. red sox great scott podsednik. >> what are you doing? >> curtis granderson makes a beautiful play. >> the grandee man can. >> a little history. up 1-0. seventh inning. >> inside-out. >> classic hit. inside-out. >> mike barnicle. what happened? >> listen to this. >> jeter. >> listen, i'm serious. >> jeter ties willie mays for

tenth on the all-time hits list, he's now in the top ten in the history of baseball. >> let's just stop and let that breathe. willie geist, talk about what this man means to the yankees, what he means to new york and major league baseball. what a great -- what a great moment. >> he is the new york yankees. he was a rookie in 1995. he came up. they didn't make the world series that year, but the next year they began their run, in 1996, when they started winning. he's been classy. he does it on the field. last year people said he was dead, too old, he's come back now, he's hitting .322, and he does it without ever getting in the papers, without starting controversy, never says a bad word about the opponent. he's the most respected player perhaps in the league, and he's still doing it at that age. >> no steroids. >> you've got to put him in the pantheon. >> you have to. >> whether you're talking about dimaggio, ruth, gehrig, dimaggio, mantle. this guy has got to be in that group. >> for 15 years, he has been new york sports. he is the guy. and he keeps getting it done.

any time you're tied with willie mays for anything -- >> for anything. >> -- you're in the pantheon. up next, mika's "must-read opinion pages." you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ female announcer ] how do you define your moment? the blissful pause just before that rich sweetness touches your lips. the delightful discovery, the mid-sweetening realization that you have the house all to yourself.

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offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. live shot of the white house on this friday morning. welcome back to "morning joe." at 42 past the hour. time now for the must-read opinion pages. we're going to read peggy noonan's piece in "the wall street journal." "the age of would-be princips." "what is needed from mr. romney now or soon is a serious statement about america's role and purpose in the world. if such a statement contained in intellectually serious critique of the president's, all the

better. as far as i can tell, that strategy largely consists of spurts of emotion and calculation from his closest aides and is not a strategy but an inbox. mr. romney might also contemplate this because it will soon be on the american mind. our embassies under siege in the mideast gives us a sense of what war with iran would look like. it would be bloody, not neat, not surgical but bloody. the world is very hot right now. it wouldn't be a bad thing to lower the temperature." >> listen, mitt romney has to get serious senior foreign policy advisers around him from the old school. you talk even the most conservative guys, foreign policy analysts who worked for george w. bush and worked for other administrations have been concerned for months and have voiced their concerns for months to us, i'm sure to you guys about the fact that he doesn't have any really strong, powerful

foreign policy advisers around him. i mean, we love dan senor, but dan hasn't been secretary of state or hasn't been national security adviser, wasn't at the top echelons of decision-making process. and dan one day will be one of these people. but he just doesn't have a lot of serious foreign policy thinkers around him. >> and he doesn't have a big background in foreign policy. he does have the time he spent working on his book, and he does have instincts that are in some ways different than the president. but as peggy's suggesting and senator mccain and others have suggested, maybe it's time for him, both to do the right thing and also for the political differentiation to give a reason-considered speech with input from a lot of serious people about how he differs from the president on these issues. i think he's got a lot to do in the next two months. and that is probably, i would think, pretty high on the list for a lot of people. >> it's pretty stunning that we've gotten this far. >> it's interesting, though, you know, you think about the romney campaign across policy. you know, if you go back -- if

we went back and looked at challengers who have won the presidency over the course of our last 20, 25 years, by the time they get to this point in the campaign, often they have -- and on both sides, whether it's george w. bush or william jefferson clinton. >> hold on. let's talk about george w. bush. so for republicans or conservatives, saying gee whiz, guys, why are you picking on mitt romney? let's talk about george w. bush. he had everybody in the foreign policy establishment that mattered around him. >> well, i was actually going to even broaden it to say that by this time, they usually have a huge complement of policy advisers, foreign and domestic. and whether it's the economy, foreign policy, domestic policy, they are the leading thinkers in the party by this time have all coalesced. and you say wow, republican or democrat, those are a bunch of heavyweights by now who have all coalesced around the nominee. the romney policy shop on

domestic and foreign policy both is largely anonymous. most people couldn't pick out those -- the chief domestic policy adviser of mitt romney out of a lineup. >> george w. bush by this time had colin powell. he had george schultz. >> does he roll out a team? too late? >> he had donald rumsfeld. he had guys that were former secretary of defenses. >> on domestic policy, again, leading thinkers in the party at that moment on whatever the subject is. >> that is so curiously absent from the romney team. and the question is why? why? >> who is the romney team? name them. >> on what? >> i don't want to cut off your access to team romney, but why don't they have the big thinkers, the big policy leaders that george w. bush had in 2000 and 2004, that barack obama had in 2008? >> because mitt romney hasn't been part of that world, they're

not people he knows. and he's comfortable like the president is with people he's comfortable with and knows. partly because the theory -- >> if he's not a part of that world, he needs to find people. this has been barack obama's biggest problem over the last four years because he doesn't have people around him that understood washington before they came to washington. so mitt romney's doing the same thing? he wants to be comfortable? if he want to go comfortable, go back to boston. >> okay. >> serious, no, this is a roeal problem. >> think back to the obama campaign in 2008. by this time on foreign policy, you had tony lake, former national security adviser, serious adviser to candidate obama on foreign policy. or dr. brzezinski. >> starting back in '07. >> or people like gene spurling. >> stephen hadley. >> the national economic council adviser. these were big people. >> mccain. mccain had serious people around him, too. >> absolutely right.

>> are you telling me, mark halperin, we've got the same problem with mitt romney we had with barack obama that he has his friends and doesn't make new friends once he comes to washington because he just kind of likes being around people that he just kind of likes being around? >> feels comfortable around? >> pretty much. >> okay. >> that is sad, that is dangerous, that is pathetic. that's pathetic. and that's why republicans are on their way to losing their second presidential election because he wants to feel comfortable, he wants people around him that can play bridge? i mean, this is the exact opposite of what you want in a leader. dwight eisenhower, he had a cabinet of people that for the most part he didn't even know before he was elected president. he went out and got the best and the brightest, and he didn't want friends. he wanted leaders! >> the best minds in the business. >> this campaign needs to be reset in such a desperate way, and they need to get foreign policy experts around, and they need to get domestic policy experts around, and they need to do it fast. i cannot believe that we're two months before election. >> how would they do that without looking even more --

>> it's very easy. >> -- unprepared? >> you just do it. and guess what? we're in the homestretch of this campaign. >> what do you mean, just do it? >> a lot of things can happen in two months. george h.w. bush, mika, was down 19 percentage points at this point in 1988. he can still win. >> we shouldn't overstate it. he has talked extensively to senator mccain, other republican senators, tim talent is someone he consults with regularly who has a lot of national security experience. i think the problem is -- and this is a little bit in the weeds -- is those people aren't there like in the room when the decisions are being made about how to handle these issues. >> well, they weren't there on sunday night, were they? they weren't there on sunday night. >> he was on the phone with some of them. >> when all this was breaking loose. you need somebody in the room that says, governor, understand if you go out and say this, while the situation is still fluid on the ground, a lot of bad things can happen. it reminds me of what happened in 1991 when we were looking at the reports coming back from

iraq. you need people who have been there, that have been in the fog of war, that have been advisers, the colin powells. go down the list of people that understand. >> even worse, maybe the colin powells and some of these people don't -- maybe he's tried. maybe they don't want anything to do with him. >> foreign policy advisers that would be glad. >> i don't know about that. colin powell stands pretty much for what he wants to do. >> i'm not just saying colin powell. i'm talking there are foreign policy leaders that would be glad on the republican side to go in and help him out. >> really? >> and there are some good foreign policy people there, but you need the top level. you need the secretary of states. you need the national security advisers. you need the people who have been there before. >> and to the point of whether it's too late, you think about four years ago in september when the financial crisis was occurring. and barack obama was consulting with the treasury secretary from the other party, the chairman of the fed. he expanded his circle of business advisers. >> warren buffett, robert

reuben. >> he broke off from the campaign trail and spent extensive time talking to experts to say, how do you deal with this? what's the right policy? what's the right posture for the candidate? >> to show that he can rally the best team of minds. this is kind of easy. unless it's not. >> remember those pictures in the financial crisis of obama surrounded by every important democratic economic policy person. >> it's easy. >> in that moment. >> unless they won't stand around them. willie's week in review is next. we'll be right back. my volt is the best vehicle i've ever driven.

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wow, it's finally time! >> it's been a while. >> it has. >> it's been sad. it's kind of like the beatles getting back together. >> here it is. >> give us the "week in review." >> i realize i've been -- this is what i've been missing. >> i need it. and it's alex's birthday. >> it's alex corsin's 35th birthday. >> light up the twitters. >> looks like he's 50. >> that's a little harsh. >> after a couple years on this show. >> executive producer. >> by going in on his bald head. >> alex, happy birthday. >> happy birthday, man. >> you know what i would love for my birthday? >> what's that? >> toss to package. >> that's what every man wants. >> you know, for a guy -- >> for the man who has everything. >> he's not committed. >> cancun. >> he, like, didn't show up.

>> senor frog's. >> senor frog's. >> here's "the week in review." >> oh, look at the money! look at the money! >> reporter: at number three, making it rain. >> he is throwing money out of the car. >> reporter: a bizarre high-speed chase around los angeles this week as bank robbers driving a safe, sensible and stolen volvo suv began tossing their loot out the window by the handful. >> i just take at least $15. >> reporter: in an improvise battle for hearts and minds as they sped recklessly through the streets of southern california, they showered local neighborhoods with cash. the lapd, though, not won over by their robin hood story. >> this is a mob scene. >> reporter: at number two, illegal monkey living on frosted flakes bites woman. that was the near-perfect headline that rocketed around the internet this week after "the l.a. times" reported the story of an obese pet that

taught its owner the hard way a macaque monkey cannot live on frosted flakes and frosted flakes alone. >> they're great! >> reporter: the overweight 22-year-old monkey who finally revolted against its helicopter mom is now under the care of a conservation group and being fed a diet of fruits, vegetables and count chocula. and the number one story of the week. president obama spent most of the week on serious matters of foreign policy, but he was able to carve out a little time in his schedule for impromptu bear hugging. >> you are, like, the biggest pizza parlor owner i've ever seen, man. >> reporter: after some romantic laughing and back slapping, the 260-pound owner of a florida pizza joint went all in, wrapping up the leader of the free world and lifting him off the ground. >> for the people who didn't see it. >> reporter: the bear hug was an act of love, but one was left to wonder, where exactly is the

secret service intervention threshold if not during a big john stud-style submission hold? and on top of all that this week, the president found a new way to get financial institutions lending again. bank robbers in volvos. >> he is throwing money out of the car. >> that's good. >> one way to give money back to the people. steal it and throw it out of a volvo. >> everything's okay now. it's been a long, cold, lonely summer. >> all is right with the world. >> we're all back together now. >> thank you, willie. coming up next, former presidential candidate jon huntsman. >> he's back! how wonderful! >> now everything really is okay. >> boy, do we have a lot to talk about next on "morning joe." on every one of our cards there's a date.

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welcome back to "morning joe." mark halperin is still with us. mike barnicle joins the table. he's got a petal pink running shirt on or something. >> it's not. it's not. >> it's nice. >> it's a very expensive summer shirt. >> when you were walking around in it, it looked like pajamas. i'm not going to lie. >> i'm sitting next to it. >> it's a nice shirt. >> it's a fine shirt. >> thank you. >> it's not what i would have selected, but it's a nice shirt. >> you're such a preppie.

>> just a man wearing a pink shirt with a navy blue blazer. >> joining us from washington, former u.s. ambassador to china, former republican governor of utah and former presidential candidate, jon huntsman. >> this is big, friends. >> very good to have you back on the show this morning. >> so honored to be back with you. sorry i'm not there at the table where i can stare down john and mike and the rest of them. >> next time for sure. next time. >> thank you. >> it's good to have him back. >> it is great to have him back. before we talk about that, so you ordered the iphone 5, halperin, online? >> this is ridiculous. >> and you did, too, barnicle. you go to the store and you can get iphone 5? how long does it take to get it? >> about four minutes. oh, no, it comes on the 21st of september. >> you did not need a new phone. you guys just are materialists. ridiculous. >> we are materialists. >> no reason to spend that money. >> i understand you hate america, but we're trying to revive the u.s. economy. >> i see that.

>> we're trying to buy american and maybe people like you that grew up with marxist books all over you in your bedroom instead of winnie the pooh books. maybe you don't understand that. but mike barnicle and mark halperin -- >> i think you all are spoiled. you have to have it right now? >> so do we have to apologize for lovin america? >> i've been boycotting nokia and ikea. >> right, exactly. >> jon huntsman is here. >> some good chinese-made products. >> speaking of which, let's go to jon huntsman. mr. ambassador, first of all, how are you doing? >> yes, sir, joe. >> you're looking good, if you don't mind me saying so. >> listen, you're very kind. my kids are very kind to me. mary kay is terrific. getting out there, reengaging her private life and watching the election play out and listening to all the commentary that you all have to provide morning after morning. >> boy, i tell you what,

speaking of commentary, we were all very depressed yesterday about mitt romney coming out the day after a united states ambassador, a man i'm sure that you knew, coming out and deciding to drag that controversy into the middle of a political campaign. do you think that was a mistake? >> well, here's where i think an opportunity was lost, joe. the nation wants to pull together. we want to see some sense of unity when we've got disruption abroad. i still firmly believe that you can't have an effective and successful foreign policy by the united states until you have a sense of unity here at home, or unless you've got a sense of stability abroad with those countries with whom you're trying to build any kind of relationship. this was an opportunity to instruct, to elucidate, to educate, to talk about how you put the pieces back together again in north africa and the middle east, not to condemn, not to criticize, not to turn it

into a political event, but to explain to the american people what we're going to do during a time of need, during a time of crisis, during a time of uncertainty. and let's not forget, this is a very fragile moment in u.s./muslim relations. i reflected on that as i lived in southeast asia this summer for a month. and i spent some time in indonesia. so the events that we're watching play out in libya and egypt and in yemen, let's not forget that it stretches from morocco all the way through to indonesia. and affects probably 1 billion people who are watching all of this play out. >> right. >> this deserves a discussion by those who are running for president what we're going to do to put the pieces back together again, what our interests are in the region, and how you can begin to provide a little bit of calm. >> we do need to have discussion about it. i think there are a lot of parts of the president's foreign

policy that should be debated and debated vigorously. but the question is whether you want to do that immediately following the death of an ambassador in this sort of unrest. we republicans, while george w. bush was president, kept talking about how politics should end at the water's edge. do you think any romney advisers have suggested that he get out this quickly after the death of our ambassador made a mistake? >> well, let's face it, we're in a political season. and so much of the messaging is political. this is a time when you extend and express condolences to the stevens family and to the three others who were killed. this is an opportunity for us to say today, friday, following friday prayers, is a very important time. let's see how things begin to play out here. this is also a time where the president has said that he will go after those who killed our

american diplomats abroad. i think these are things that all americans can rally around. but let's begin to have a discussion. the point that i want to make, joe, is this is a chance for candidates to educate the american public about what they want to do in the region. what are the broad parameters of their foreign policy toward north africa and the middle east? we watched the chaos. we watched the uncertainty. but in the end, we're going to have to have a conversation about how you put the pieces back together again. >> right. >> and i think that's a pretty simple conversation that we just haven't had as a country yet. and it really starts with the most fundamental aspects of our relationships abroad. and most people don't realize that host governments are responsible for the external security of our missions abroad. and if they're failing that front, that requires, i think, a very important conversation. >> it seems so easy for ambassador huntsman to say.

i know this next question at least is going to make me sad about what could have been, but is that what you would have said if you were the republican nominee and in the moments that followed the death of the ambassador, is that how you would have moved forward and perhaps spoken publicly? >> well, listen. i failed, as my daughter tells me time and time again, so i'm not in a position to offer any kind of advice. but what i tried to do as a candidate and imperfectly, i have to add, was to walk people through on the foreign policy side what our interests are abroad, what our objectives should be both on the security side and the economic side, and the role of the united states in the 21st century and how we achieve that. and this is a perfect opportunity -- i thought it was the perfect opportunity for the romney campaign to step up and begin not through immediate criticism but begin to articulate their vision for the middle east, in terms of how we begin putting some of these

pieces back together again. that's what the american people want to hear. i think they've heard enough of the finger-pointing, the criticism, the anger. how do we come together during times of need as a country? how do we show a moment of unity when we've just lost our senior diplomat in a place like libya? >> mike barnicle. >> governor, as we've all seen over the past couple of days, the world is an increasingly volatile place, an increasingly dangerous place, especially american interests in that broad arc that you mentioned from morocco to indonesia. you spent time, you mentioned, in summer in southeast asia as well as indonesia, and you want a discussion and think a discussion is necessary on foreign policy at the presidential campaign level. that said, i'm thinking in terms of your candidacy and past republican candidacies, people like brent scowcroft, james baker, george schultz, heavyweight foreign policy voices. who are the heavyweight foreign policy voices that you would

want to be surrounded with? do you have any suggestions for a romney campaign seemingly issuing foreign policy proclamations by press release rather than by extended thought about the issue? >> well, i've been part of, i guess, the foreign policy framework in this country for a lot of years. you mentioned people for whom i have great respect. and now we're kind of bringing up the next generation of foreign policy professionals. the bob zelliks of the world, the rich armitages of the world and others who are just kind of the generation below jim baker and brent scowcroft and henry kissinger. but i have to tell you, mike, at this point, a candidate knows everything they should know about policy. it's now less up to the advisers and those you surround yourself with. that's okay in terms of expressing credibility about who you are and the policies you stand for. but it's all about the candidate at this point.

>> that's not a good sign if that's true. >> the heart and soul. well, i'm not sure that you can expect advisers and external influences to do a whole lot to turn the course of the campaign. it's up to the heart and soul of the candidate. and either you're there to articulate your vision in an inspiring, hopeful visionary way to the american people who want to be led or not. it doesn't matter who you bring with you at this point. >> what are you telling us about mitt romney? i mean, you're telling us that he's got nothing. >> i'm a failed candidate, so i'm not in a position to offer advice to anybody, but i guess you have a couple of opportunities left between now and november. and let's face it you've got weeks before early voting begins. and i think impressions are beginning to gel at this point. and i think the debates present an opening, a moment to stand up and show the nation that heart and soul, that sense of optimism, that sense of vision. i don't get this part about be

angry, attack, you know, go after the jugular. you can do that in hopeful optimistic visionary ways. the thing that i walked out of southeast asia with this summer -- and i've lived abroad four times, so i'm able to measure it over the last 30-plus years -- is the world has no leadership these days. i've never seen it so devoid of leadership. i mean, typically we've been able to see pockets of leaders in latin america, in africa, in south asia, east asia and here in north america. but you look the world over, and there is no leadership. and because of that void, the world is looking for america to step up and lead and provide some vision. and it's a great opportunity today to talk about american ideals, american values, liberty, democracy, human rights and free markets. the world is waiting to be led, and that's why this election, i think, is so much more important than people might be thinking about. >> willie.

>> governor huntsman, it's willie geist. good to see you again. >> hey, willie, great to hear from you. >> you talk about the vision. the criticism of romney is that he hasn't been specific about what his vision is. he lays out grand plans. he criticized the president for his handling of libya, but he doesn't quite get to the point where he explains what he would do. some of his advisers this morning in "the new york times" saying after the fact here's what he would have done in libya. are there specifics you could lay out that you'd like to see him talk about not just on foreign policy but on the economy? and are you surprised he hasn't been more specific? >> well, listen, again, i'm not going to go around criticizing campaigns. people can analyze them any way they want, and postmortems will be done whether you win or lose. but let's -- let's just say that there is an opportunity here to talk about first and foremost getting our act together here at home. and i think that's where mitt romney really does shine and where he has an opportunity in the weeks remaining really to

hit hard the message on jobs and how a strong economy here at home is going to make us that much more able abroad to achieve our foreign policy objectives. i think that is his strength. and anytime he strays from that core message of getting our act together here at home and firing our engines of growth, i mean, let's face it. we have some huge opportunities around the corner here domestically, both through tax reform and through energy independence, some sort of articulated vision on how we use shale gas going forward. this is going to be a growth revolution in this country that i don't think people fully comprehend in terms of what it's going to do for us in allowing us to get back on our feet economically. once that is locked in, we're in a much different position in terms of the leverage we have abroad. and that's one of the challenges today when you sit down at any negotiating table. we lack that leverage. >> governor, mark halperin here. nice to see you. we don't have a lot of time. i'm asking you to do something complicated in a short space.

rather than criticize, if ukt educate. from your learned perspective, what is the basic difference between president obama's strategy and philosophy towards dealing with the arab spring versus what governor romney is proposing? >> well, i don't know what governor romney is proposing at this point. and i'm a little confused on what president obama is doing. >> is that a problem? >> that's kind of a problem, isn't it, that you don't know what mitt romney's proposing? >> it's kind of a problem, but let's remember this. this is a time for a reflection. this is a time to remember that we're on the very earliest -- in the very earliest stages of new governments in libya and in egypt, and how this thing is going to play out. remember what they once said about the french revolution 200 years later when asked about it, he said it was really too soon to tell in terms of its impact. and i think we have to hold steady to what our interests are in the region. that is stability. that is counterterrorism. that is keeping the lanes open for trade and commerce, and that's supporting our alliances,

first and foremost, israel. and that's where it needs to be packaged. and i haven't heard a clear articulation on either side about how you begin to put those pieces together in the middle east. we all know it's broken, but at some point, we've got some work ahead in terms of putting the pieces together. >> ambassador jon huntsman, thank you very much. it's great to see you. >> thank you. >> it is great to see you. say hi to everybody. >> will do. >> could he have given obama a run? >> he tried. >> he tried. i mean, you know. you've got to win the nomination first. >> you've got to win the nomination first. >> yeah. >> i tell you what, you know what? he had a difficult launch. >> whatever. i guess it's not good coming from me. >> conservatives by the end of the campaign realized he had the most conservative record. but he just could never connect with the base. >> isn't it about winning? >> it is about winning. >> right. >> i mean, it's only about winning. >> i thought it was.

>> it's only about winning. >> until now. >> it's only about winning if you like to win. >> right! >> and right now -- >> he could have won. >> -- there's a question as to whether a lot of republicans want to win or not. i kind of personally am crazy. i like winning. i like my football team to win. you know? i like my country to win. i like my political party to win. i'm crazy that way. you know, when you play, you know what you do, mike? you play to win. >> w-i-n. >> w-i-n. you don't play to feel good about yourself. you don't play to make a point. you play to win. you play, if you play football, to tear the head off the other guy's shoulder and run the ball down his throat and score a touchdown and win. >> that's why you keep score. >> that's why you keep score and that's why you count votes and election. right now we've got a republican party that doesn't play to win. they play to make points. lots of luck with that, fellas! i like winning. still to come, former

florida governor jeb bush. also tavis smiley and dr. cornell west. up next, we'll go over the new nbc swing state polls with chuck todd and eugene robinson. we'll also bring in historian andeagan biographer craig shirley. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

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a live look at capitol hill as the sun comes up over washington, d.c. it is 22 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." what? >> we have a problem. >> i know you have a problem. you know what? >> i keep trying to order an iphone. i've got three hours to order an iphone on the show, and we're running out of time! we're running out of time! identify got an hour and a half to get my new iphone. >> it's all about toys and sports. >> chuck todd, i may need to use an hour of your time on air to try to order my iphone, if that's okay. >> 2 bucks.

>> you want it already now because you want to go through the crazy charger problem? >> oh, what's the charger problem? >> this charger issue -- i swear, i now have chargers in my office. >> exactly, every room. >> every room in the house where i can charge something, and then they go and change it. it's a scam. >> i've got an iphone charger in my bathtub. >> just when you get it all set, apple does this. >> so it needs -- hold on. >> they do it to you every time. >> this one apparently if you drop it doesn't crack into a million pieces, but you need a different charger? >> you need a different charger. >> you need an adapter. >> 20 bucks. so i'm going to buy seven adapters? >> no, buy one and keep it with you. >> these stupid phones which are too sensitive and you can't type and they type for you. these phones make you spend more money just to use them to buy the charger, the adapter, the thing that you put around it. >> go, mika. that's right. they make you spend more money. >> capitalism on your stupidity. >> this is about america. >> yeah. just give me a phone that i can open and dial. >> it's about raising our gdp a

half a point, apparently, right? this is why they say our economy is going to get better. >> we've got to jump in. exactly. you know we're trying to make the economy better, chuck, mika, of course, rooting against america. what's new? >> i'm just rooting against your -- >> do we have gene here, too? >> yes. >> we've got gene here and craig shirley here. ironically, all three guys also, unlike you, mika, love the united states of america. >> i do, too. >> right now we're going to start rapid fire since we have so many people here. i won't even talk about the miami hurricanes. they broke our heart last week, chuck todd. let's go straight to the polls. you look at these swing state polls. not a surprise. craig shirley and i have been talking a bit about the misdirection of the romney campaign for some time, and boy, it's showing up in these polls now, isn't it? >> there is a bump and you see it. all three polls were conducted sunday through tuesday before the foreign policy flare-up, by the way. so you get the feeling this is post-convention bump, even talking to some republicans, you

know, they don't dispute the numbers. they just say hey, it's all part of the bump. but look at the president's numbers. he hits 49% or 50% in the big three, if you will, the iron triangle of the battleground, florida, virginia, ohio. seven-point lead in ohio. that matches what you hear in this nervousness that ohio's slipping away. but look at the florida number, joe. >> oh, my lord. >> the fact -- you know, think about what's happened this week in florida. so you have this poll. we have the president up five sitting at 49%. you have the obama campaign deciding to basically double -- almost double its advertising in the state. because if you cut florida off -- >> it's over. >> -- it's over. >> it's over. >> forget everything else. it is over. the path for romney is done. >> the state of florida, jeb bush is going to be on the show. the state of florida's so much more conservative even than when jeb was being elected, i was being elected. when a republican is down by five points in mid-september is beyond me. you look at ohio, seven points there. virginia, six points there.

there's a colorado poll out that shows five, six points there. this is a terrible run for romney. of course, we have to remind people that dukakis was up by 19 percentage points after his convention. but we don't have the same electorate here, do we, chuck? there aren't that many undecideds left. >> well, that's what's amazing here is that there's almost no persuadable voters. i grouped together all of the undecided vote in the three states. these undecided voters, they're people that around going to vote. that's what you get the impression on. that they're not very enthusiastic. they have low opinions of both the president, but they have a lower opinion of romney when you group these together. but they really weren't paying attention. our pollster said these just look like -- first of all, he said the poll itself looks like a preelection poll, not a poll that you would normally conduct in september because so few people said they could change their mind. >> yeah. hey, chuck, you bring maps. >> i always bring maps, buddy. >> when anybody brings maps, it makes us all happy because we're

simple-minded colors. we like bright colors. can you show us those bright colors and show us what happens with florida, with ohio, colorado? >> let take florida off the map, give it to the president. look wheres' he's at. >> he needs four more. >> any state, pick one. new hampshire. let's give him that one. there it is, he hits 270. any state, florida plus one. that would mean romney would have to do a clean sweep. >> hey, what about wisconsin? the fact that you have wisconsin up in the air right now, i mean -- >> well, i think the wisconsin stuff -- i think that is the one place ryan's helped. >> ryan has. >> you know, i think it's made it a swing -- it's made it a total battleground, a total coin flip. biden had to go there. it's the first time biden's there. look, you talk to the romney folks and they sit there and say, look, we may have to trade wisconsin for ohio. but, you know, that's still a tough thing to do.

let's say you make that trade. that means you have to, if you're romney, you can't afford to lose florida or virginia at this point. i mean, you've got to come up -- you've got to come up, north carolina, you've got to sweep those. and by the way, that's still not enough. >> craig -- let me bring in craig shirley. craig, for conservatives, for republicans, this is so depressing. we've been talking about this privately, you and me, for some time now. mitt romney is not a conservative. in fact, he's not a moderate. we don't exactly know what he is. all of your concerns about him not being a true conservative are really playing out now. you've been predicting that this is where we're going to lead. and you look at this map that chuck's showing, you look at the polls out today, you look at what happened a couple of days ago where he made a terrible mistake on the day after an ambassador was killed. this is a nightmare scenario for the conservative movement, isn't it? >> well, i don't know about the

standpoint of a conservative movement. the movement will always go on. it's always going to be there, but we do know one thing, is that politics -- three essential elements. people, time and money. you can always raise more money. you can always hire more people. but you cannot manufacture more time. what romney is doing is he's burning daylight right now, not being on offense, not making the case against president obama. as john sears, ronald reagan's old campaign manager, said, politics is motion. and romney is not in motion. >> well, craig, also, you were critical -- even though you're a conservative, even though you have been very critical of barack obama's domestic and foreign policy, you brought up some great points talking to me on the phone about the mistake mitt romney made this week a couple of days ago. >> right. >> and you brought up some historical parallels about just how bad this was tactically for mitt romney to attack president obama. >> yeah, precisely. beyond ideology, just from the standpoint of politics is that the american people have always

rallied to the president in time of national crisis. after december 7th, the american people could deny fdr nothing. after the missile crisis, they could deny -- jfk goes on to actually win seats in the congress in the election of 1962. they rallied during the failure of "desert one" in the summer of 1980. they rallied to jimmy carter -- >> jimmy carter went up 10 percentage points after "desert one." >> yes, exactly. but this whole thing, too, brings to mind another historical analogy, and that's 1976 when ford, in the second debate with jim carter, said that there was no soviet domination of poland and there never will be under a ford administration, ignoring the fact, of course, that there were five soviet divisions in warsaw at the time. now, both campaigns' polsters said that ford was picking up one point a day on carter at

that point. there was a pause in the momentum because there were doubts -- new doubts were raised about gerald ford. and he actually didn't move forward for five days until he finally apologized for making this misstatement. and then he started his momentum again, but he ends up losing 50-48. and had he not made that mistake or if he had fixed the mistake more quickly, he very well may have won in 1976. >> and gene robinson, this morning mitt romney, of course, backing off. he's not talking about -- not talking about the killing of the ambassador, not talking about -- not blaming barack obama for apologizing any more, certainly not this morning. it seems like he wants to move on. but the question is whether the combination of that and a flat republican national convention has led us to this point where barack obama's now opened up six, seven-point leads in the most critical swing states. >> yeah. you know, i think what romney has to worry about is that

obviously he didn't get a convention bounce. president obama did. and now with this really horrible -- not just a mistake, but it was adom inable what he did the other day. it was a bad thing. he ratchets down a bit more, and in a race where there's so few undecideds, he has to worry about the race essentially being locked in place. he has to worry about having enough time and enough persuadable voters out there to regain the ground that he's lost over the last couple weeks. >> craig shirley, you talked about mitt romney burning daylight. what can he do at this point? is it a speech? is it just the debates? is there enough time? how does he get someone like you or even eugene robinson who may not be actually supporting mitt romney to feel like there's a real race here? >> well, yeah, mika, that's a great point. what he's got to do is pivot back to an issue that's a strong point.

we know about the discord in the middle east. we know what he said about it. what he's got to do is jump beyond that and say, look, this is why we need energy independence in this country because we're relying on an unstable region. i have a plan for energy independence by 2020. the president doesn't. meanwhile, we're sending billions of dollars over to the middle east that could be going into our own economy right here. he's got to take that foreign policy problem and his own problem and convert it into -- take lemons and make lemonade for himself and get back to issues that he's familiar on and that he can make a winning case on. >> chuck, it's willie -- excuse me, last week in charlotte, i had a very senior aide to the obama campaign say i'd much rather be us than them when you look inside these polls. if you look at the nbc polls now in these three states obviously know what he was talking about. how do they feel right now? do they feel like they're opening this lead and they're starting to get more comfortable, or where are they? where's their head space? >> i think they think some of this is a bounce and they want to see where it is it in about

ten days. does any of it, quote, settle back to where it was pre-convention? so you never know with these bounces if they can solidify and if they can stay. i think what they're trying to do with doubling down, for instance, on their advertising in florida is seeing if they can sustain it, and at worst, force romney to spend a lot more time in foreign resources. it's my understanding the romney campaign is contemplating sort of a big policy speech before the debates. but there is a real debate inside the campaign, what's the topic? do they go big on foreign policy? do they do that because they might get more attention for it because of the dust-up this week and an attempt to sort of fix that and go bigger there? or do they do something on the economy closer to what craig was talking about and put more meat on the bones? but all of it in an attempt to set up the debates to try to take control of, you know, i hate this word, and we all talk about it too much, the

narrative, right, to try to help set an agenda rather than be a reactive campaign. this is a campaign that has been nothing but reacting to news -- they're chasing the news cycle, i think, too much and you see it. and i think they know it, and they're trying to find a moment to reset. >> gene, if you were david plus or the president, what are the two things you'd be worried about in the face of all this good news that they've had in the last couple days in terms of the politics? >> well, number one, i would worry about events, i think, that could send the race in a different direction. you can't do anything about that. i would also, frankly, worry that romney would find a voice on issues that he knows something about. i think if i were jim massena or david plouffe, i would hope that romney gives a big policy speech on foreign policy, frankly, because he does not sound credible or grounded or knowledgeable about foreign policy in the way that he can sound on the economy given his

experience. it doesn't work. and i think to my mind, at least, i don't know, mika, you've heard a lot of foreign policy discussions in your day around the dinner table, but my impression is he does not sound like a man who has thought deeply about these issues. >> not at all. >> or at all. >> i agree. i think craig shirley has it right, talking about making america energy independent. most swing voters turn on the set and they look at the chaos over there and they go, wait a second, they're doing that because of a crude video that was uplinked? why are we even worrying about that? and it goes back to oil. i think craig has it nailed. talk about energy independence. >> get a team. >> joe, could i just make one point, too, from romney's standpoint, picking up on what mika said. foreign policy crises tend to be -- tend to dissipate. we all know what happened to winston churchill at the end of world war ii where he was

quickly voted out of office. in 1942, one year after december 7th, the republicans made huge gains in the congress. and of course carter did lose the '80 campaign in part because of the hostage crisis even though it helped him win the primaries over ted kennedy. >> yep. no doubt about it. >> all right. chuck todd, thank you very much. we'll see you on "the daily rundown." eugene, thank you. your column in today's "washington post." and craig shirley, thank you as well. your book is "ran day view with destiny." >> craig just wrote a new book during the segment. >> ronald reagan and the campaign that changed america. thank you, gentlemen. straight ahead, former governor jeb bush joins the conversation. we'll keep it right here on "morning joe." [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe

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just walking out on their students. some of the poorest, most needy students in america. >> the whole issue of public school education, especially in large urban areas, i mean, what's the constituency? the constituency, poor children, poor families. >> yeah. >> what's who we have to serve. >> exactly. right now rahm emanuel is trying to do that and the unions aren't letting him. next, former governor jeb bush. what's happening in chicago and

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welcome back to "morning joe." it's 44 past the hour. joining us now from miami, former republican governor of florida, jeb bush. he has a piece in today's "chicago tribune" about the chicago teachers strike. and he writes in part this. "the teachers' strike in chicago is not about money. mayor rahm emanuel has offered an average 16% pay increase over four years even as the school district faces a $1 billion deficit. imagine a private company with that kind of balance sheet being so generous. no, this strike is about the chicago teachers union clinging to bargaining positions sharply at odds with the current direction of public education. it is about two concepts that every professional in the workplace understands. the first is that if your boss

is held accountable for the performance of the team, the boss gets to decide who to hire. second, and most important, your job review is based on how well you do your job. these sound like common-sense principles, but are an anathema to many teacher unions, particularly the ctu. >> mike barnicle asked a great question. who lobbies for the poor? who fights for the most disadvantaged? in chicago right now, those are the very students who are stuck at home and not learning in class. >> absolutely, joe. good morning. we need to make education something of national purpose. the idea, i think, has been, well, it's just a problem of kids in poverty, and therefore we don't have to worry about it that much because our kids are doing well. the fact is our kids aren't doing as well as they need to do to be successful. and secondly, when you have two-thirds of your children not college and/or career ready by

the time they finish -- or supposed to finish high school and we spend more per student than any country in the world, that is a national problem. that is a societal problem. and it really changes who we are as a nation. so what's going on in chicago is a leading kind of indicator of things to come. we have to change how we educate our kids before it's too late. >> you know, governor bush brings up a great point, mika. we spend more money per pupil than any country on the planet. politicians always talk about we can fix the problem by spending more money. i've got no problem investing in education, spending more money, but not if it's going into a failing system, and that's what we're stuck with right now. >> so the question is how to fix that system. and it sounds so simple. you want to reward good performance and teachers who are able to bring kids up. but governor, isn't it a little bit more complicated than that? because there are debates as to whether it's standardized test scores that should rate

performance versus other things. that's where it gets convoluted. >> it's complicated, for sure, but if you move towards end-of-course exams, the country's moving towards common core standards which are higher standards that will allow for new kinds of testing that is also remedial in the sense that it's diagnostics so you can fix the problems before waiting till the end. but i do think it's important to have teachers reviewed. you know, there needs to be peer review, student review, and there needs to be some objective assessment of how they do. and if they have learning gains that are greater than the norm, they should be paid more. and if they have abject failure, they should be out of the classroom as fast as possible. >> yeah. >> and in chicago, that's not possible right now. the teachers unions are trying to focus on seniority being the means by which teachers are hired. so you're going to take a bad teacher, move them out of one school. the principals have no say about the next school where that

teacher will go. it's devastating for kids, particularly kids in poverty. >> governor, i have a question that's perhaps impossible for you to answer, for anyone to answer. >> uh-oh. >> well, look it. my mother was a teacher for over three decades, so this is not teacher bashing, but we've reached a stage in public education in this country over the past 10 or 15 years, i think, where any reference to teacher accountability, to making sure that, you know, terrific teachers are not the first out the door and less reliance on seniority activates an angry gene in many teachers unions. how is it possible or is it possible to get past that to deal with issues like accountability, teacher accountability? >> well, in hillsborough county, which is tampa, thanks to the gates foundation, labor and management's working together where there is an assessment of teachers based on learning gains of students.

and it's a thoughtful process. there was buy-in by the union. i don't think everybody is happy with it, but most people are. and the net result is hillsborough county has significantly higher achievement levels for kids in poverty, for example, than what takes place in chicago. than what takes place in chicago. similarly in miami-dade county where there's a more open system you have better learning games. i think you have to make the case we need to move to a student-centered system, if you will. in chicago the average pay is $71,000. when you add benefits right now, teachers in chicago make close to $100,000. they have a pension that would be the envy of any private sector job, and yet the outcomes are horrible. why not give people that kind of money but make sure that it's tied to learning gains for students. >> governor bush, it's willie geist, a lot of this is what

you've talked to, teacher evaluations in chicago. recalls, when a job comes up, you have to rehire the teachers that have been fired. also for the teachers i think about changing what you're talking about, the culture in the classroom. a frustrated third grade teacher with a 45-1 student/teacher ratio. how do you use that money better. we're spending the money. we still have giant class sizes. elementary schools that don't have libraries. forget art or gym class or science. how do we get smarter about money so it helps teachers an students. >> it would be shocking to me in chicago with their student funding they would have 45 kids in the classroom. i assume that you're saying is true. most places don't have that. in fact, they have a declining student population in chicago because the quality of education isn't effective. you don't have to spend the kind of money per student that's being spent in a place like

chicago and get better results. it requires robust accountability, teacher evaluation based on student performance. i think digital learning offers tremendous possibilities of disrupting the cost structure and getting to higher quality. accurate assessments. ending social promotion. school choice. a focus on literacy particularly in early grades. these are common sense things. this is not a radical agenda. when you do that in the places where it's happening you get far better results. >> governor, real quick, take advantage of your expertise. what do you see as the major policy differences on education between mitt romney and barack obama? >> this is a place where the differences aren't as vast as they are on economic policy or fiscal policy. i would say the biggest difference is governor romney believes compassionately and consistently about school choice but they both believe in higher standards. i think they believe in a

teacher evaluation system that's being proposed by the mayor in chicago. which is really the frustrating part of this, there's not a deep partisan divide on education yet unions and monopolies are resistant to change. if we continue to fight the political fight, we're going to have one-third of our kids college and career ready and two-third not. you cannot sustain who we are as a nation with those kinds of results over a long period of time. >> governor jeb bush, thank you. great to have you back on the show. >> take care. >> great to see you. >> we'll be right back in just a moment.

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conclusion the white house reached, the statement was inappropriate. that's why they backed away for it as well. >> they didn't say they were showing sympathy for the attackers. >> i don't think it was applicable for the setting. i thought it should be taken down and they felt the same way. >> shoot first and talk later? >> this is politics. >> a live look at new york city. back with us on set mark halperin and john heilemann. >> if we move on, do we not look at polls to see if there's impact. >> a couple of things going on, bernanke, comes out trying to do whatever he can do to force a job recovery.

it's certainly not happening out of washington, d.c. so the feds moving very quickly and the middle east turmoil spreads. i think one hopeful development, one of the things i was surprised by we were talking about how mitt romney made the terrible mistake, in our opinion, at least my opinion, i won't speak for anybody else. i was really stunned when the president -- of course republicans are saying go harder, go harder, set the entire region on fire. i actually went the other way. i was taken aback when the president said that the egyptians were not our allies. wait. these are our most important arab partners. yes, we've had a chaotic week and bad things are happening. this is a time you do what the president did i guess yesterday and call the guy up and say, hey, buddy, right here. you do not want to go this

direction. and he did. i think that was a great call by the president. i think he made a terrible mistake. we can get past it by saying that our most historic partner starting in 1979 with your dad and jimmy carter is no longer a, quote, ally. >> well, we give them a lot of military aid so i hope they are our ally. >> that means nothing. >> the president made a mistake and government tried to walk it back. one of the big crit ex-of conservatives of the media this week is there hasn't been enough scrutiny of the president around all this. i think that's absolutely fair and right to point out. >> sure. >> although, if you look at george bush after 9/11, a much bigger crisis, but the press wasn't inclined or democrats and republicans weren't inclined to critique the president in a negative way. he made tons of mistakes. in times of a security crisis there's a tendency to cut the

president some slack. >> at least for 24 or 48 hours. >> for things to evolve. >> until you have a dead united states ambassador. >> it was an interesting mistake and i think deserves some scrutiny. >> it was an interesting mistake. i think we'll get past it. it's very good news the president spoke with president morsi and let him know, this is not acceptable. this is not how you guys behave. john, from all the reports i've read, the egyptians said message received. the muslim brotherhood even said message received. we're going to pull back. why is this important? this is so important for so many reasons in the middle east. the least of which not being israel and trying to keep -- trying to keep israel safe. >> well, you think about the historic u.s. allies in that region. all those relationships are somewhat more tenuous and fragile than they were just a

few years ago, saudi arabia. you want to have that relationship be strong. i think the president was speaking the truth, which is that it's a government transition. they are trying to figure out what the relationship is. i do think it was very striking the difference in tone between the phone calls he made to the leaders in libya versus leaders in egypt. the leaders in egypt, i think morsi heard the difference between how he talked to the libyans, which was full love and support, versus the way he talked to morsi, which had a little more of a stern and that kind of -- the tone he was talking about. >> hey, look at me, buddy. this is not going to work. i will say for the jackals running around capitol hill saying -- do not find egypt or libya moving forward, seriously, please, go inside. wrap yourself in bubble wrap. stay away from sharp objects. you are a danger to long-term health and national security of the united states of america. now that we've got that off the

plate, willie, we can move forward and talk about the conservative critique. i think it's a fair critique. the conservative critique that all you guys in the media were talking about mitt romney. you should have talked about the warnings with the embassy, et cetera, et cetera. yes, perhaps we should have. you know who didn't allow us to do that? >> mitt romney. >> mitt romney. if mitt romney had kept his mouth shut, if he would not act like a rank amateur, not embarrassed himself -- by the way internally the campaign understands he screwed up. he's moved on. they know that. no conservative can say oh, the mainstream media, blah, blah. they know how badly they screwed up and they were having to fight internally before he even went out and did it. but romney into the in the way of the media looking at the president going what happened here? how did this happen? those questions will be asked in the coming weeks but weren't asked in the first 24 hours

because romney was holding this horrific international press conference. >> it's significant and important what mitt romney said. if he wants to be commander in chief, wants to be president, we should know how he will conduct himself on the world stage, what he would done, not just his critique of president obama. we should evaluate. the real story is not mitt romney but what happened in the middle east. what's our relationship like with egypt. we give them $1.5 billion a year. why aren't they able to protect the embassy. we just talked to jim maceda from cairo, calling for more protests, peaceful protests but protests around mosques. the question is are we going to have to send out marines every time some mouth breather puts a movie up on youtube. we need to talk about our relationship with egypt and they are an ally but we need to talk about our relationship. >> we'll get to politics but first an update. new waves of anti-protests sweeping middle east.

demonstrations have erupted across 11 countries including iran, iraq, and sudan. right now in chiropractairo, pr gathering outside the embassy. let's go to cairo for an update on the situation with jim maceda. jim, what can you tell us? >> hi, mika, right now it's relatively quiet compared to what we heard earlier this morning because prayers started a while ago. we'll watch how this unfolds after the prayers. there are several hundred protesters that set up camp overnight in tahrir square down behind me to the right. they tried to make another move on the u.s. embassy early this morning. so there was more tear gas fired by riot police, thrown back by the demonstrators. some stone throwing. what we notice now is there are huge concrete blocks cutting off

access totem ba thte the embase case. there's 150 protesters, you hear that going off behind me, marching around chanting god is great and the usual type of islamic chants we hear. i was telling willie earlier, this had the feel up until today of a protest taking place inside a bubble, always near the embassy, a cat and mass standoff, as you say, in its fourth day as life goes on normally with weddings and what have you in cairo. today that could change because morsi, president morsi and the muslim brotherhood have called for nationwide protests. we have it underscored these are supposed to be peaceful and dignified protests. that's whether or not he's called for after friday prayers. morsi is getting the message. these messages will be organized by muslim brotherhood. they will take place outside

mosques in the country. that may take the pressure off what's depending on behind me and these protesters. you know, it's very volatile. these protesters, many are calling for the burning of the ann islam film and the hanging to death of the so-called u.s. producers or the producers of the u.s. film. back to you. >> nbc's jim maceda live in cairo. thank you, jim. coming off the political conventions we do have updates in the polls. president obama leading miller in three key battleground states. the president has a five-point lead over romney in virginia and florida. in ohio his lead is up to seven points. >> of course, john heilemann, these are all states george bush won in 2004. virginia is a little wider than expected. before florida a five-point lead in such a conservative state this late in the game with few undecided voters is really

telling, but the ohio number again continues to be -- >> devastating. >> the dagger in the romney campaign's heart if they can't -- if they can't pull that out and make that a closer race. that is -- seven points in ohio is devastating. right tracks, wrong tracks in these states. all much better than they are in the rest of america. ohio, right track, 40% of ohio voters think the country is headed in the right direction. >> look at those three numbers up there, 44, 49, 50. those numbers are approaching the numbers you need to win those states and they are places the president, even though he's had a lead in those states, he hasn't been at 49 and 50 before, number one. number two, the ohio number is incredibly important and it's a state where the strength of organized labor the president always had -- >> you were saying yesterday ohio was one of the few states where lab unions really matter.

>> still matter. if you're sitting at 50% in the polls before you take in the turnout impact of that, it's tough. >> then you step away from ohio and virginia, which are states where the president has led consistently over this race and look at florida, a state that's been the weaker of those three states for him, for him to have opened up a five-point lead in florida where the economy is not as good as it is in ohio or virginia, that's a troubling set of numbers for romney across the board. >> it is. let's put all this in perspective, lou halperin, michael dukakis was there. after the romney gaffe the past couple of days, those numbers may spread even more. then you go to colorado. here is another swing state. a state i suspected in the end romney would end up winning.

a new poll in colorado shows the same thing, barack obama up by 5 percentage points. >> i think for romney to improve his position, he's got to have to do something that he's not really exhibited yet. >> here is a poll of likely colorado voters. >> he's going to have to raise his game. the "associated press" has a story today that says that romney is going to come back by putting on more tv ads and working harder. then they quote a woman named lillian glass, a los angeles-based body expert who says about romney, he's turned into a different person, he's more passionate, more emotional, more dynamic -- >> the "associated press" is actually quoting a body language expert. >> she's an expert. i would say i don't see what miss glass sees but i think if romney is going to have a chance to get back in this, he does need to do exactly what she says

he's done, more passionate, emotional, dynamic and a communicator. >> he is actually gripping the microphone as opposed to holding it like a tea cup. >> he's quoting her. she's right about what needs to happen. i just haven't seen it yet. >> a body language expert. they are going to do more 30-second ads, mika, they have been doing 30-second ads. i think mitt romney actually has to tell people what he wants to do -- >> you know how commercials can have an impact as well as money mark halperin. it's very hard. in ohio you have sort of the -- not only the economic situation overall in terms of numbers but spillover from the auto bailout, which has helped the president a lot. can money and ads work to compete with that? >> historically at least television advertising late in the game against incumbent president, it's not traditionally -- not a marriage this large.

the most -- people have been living with barack obama for almost four years. they know the economy is not good. most of the bad stuff about obama is baked in for a lot of voters. to try to move big numbers, not on the margins but substantial numbers with tv ads in the last two months of the race when the ads are saturated with ads, that's -- >> first of all, willie, how surprise thanksgiving we hear the word baked from john heilemann on friday. >> he is half baked. >> i'm more than half baked. it's an expression i was going to use, unlike 1980, there aren't a lot of undecided voters. if you really dig into the numbers, you've got 3%, maybe 4% undecided. fewer undecided voters than ever before. so for mitt romney, if romney is down even by 2 or 3 percentage points going into the final week or two, he's got to have to pull

80% of the undecided voters. that's just not going to happen. it's certainly not going to happen because of 30-second ads. >> this campaign has been going on for well over a year. the country knows mitt romney. the country has a feeling about who he is. they don't know what exactly he'd do. that's his opportunity. he's got two months to lay out in stark terms specifically what he'd do on the economy instead of ripping president obama about what's happening overseas, how would you handle the situation. some of his aides coming out explaining what he would have done. get specifics. we feel like we know who you are. tell us exactly what you do. if you look inside those numbers -- if he loses florida it's over. not a chance. talking about ohio. if he's down five in florida, forget it. >> when we come back, the new scenes bureau report showing america's incomes down for the fourth straight year. we're going to be discussing the impact of this report from tavis smiley and dr. cornel west as they continue their poverty tour across the country. also as "usa today" separates their 30th

anniversary, we're going to be bringing you the paper's president and publisher larry cramer. plus willie's weekend review. it will change your life. plus take five pounds off. really the five pounds that's so hard to get off. this is going to take care of that for you if you watch willie's weekend review. first here is meteorologist todd santos. he's got a check of the weekend forecast. >> joe, thanks so much. folks out running early this morning trying to get rid of those extra five pounds. a beautiful setup across the country, head to motor city, a better chance for light on and off showers next couple of hours that will slowly spread across portions of ohio, indiana, minneapolis, showers on your front doorstep as well this morning. not dealing with thunderstorm activity yet. some of the daytime heating may get a few of those thunderstorms going, especially areas southeastern micro, back into arkansas. do notice heavier showers along portions of 44 in southern micro. certainly look out for that as you're driving. once you get to the 95 corridor,

a chance of showers on and off through the south, much of the activity in the central bahamas, showers in the turks and caicos. clear skies, buffalo will see a better chance for showers today. chances later tonight in new york city for some passing showers. notice cool temperatures back toward minneapolis. some 50s showing up. there's a look at what you can expect for friday, 82 new york, 83 d.c., start of the weekend looking good. keep in mind light showers, new york toward boston early saturday morning then start to see some improving conditions. meanwhile there's a look outside outside 30 rockefeller. more "morning joe" next. ♪

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>> when i hear the story of the single mom struggling to put food on the table or the child born into poverty, for a dad who has gone months without a paycheck, i cannot sit idly by, not as a person and certainly not as a president. >> when our economy is weak, lives are shattered, hearts ache. parents wonder how they will make ends meet and how they will provide better lives for their children. i'm running for president because i believe we can and must do better. if we're going to help lift our brothers and sisters out of poverty, we must restore our economy and reduce the debt. >> 22 past the hour.

beautiful shot of the white house on this friday morning, sunny friday morning. wake up, everybody. come on. let's start the day. president obama and mitt romney responding to the latest census bureau report on nation's poverty level in 2011. more than 46 million americans, 15% of the population live below the poverty line. the median household income dropped by 1.5% a year before to a little more than $50,000. here with us now from philadelphia, the host of the pbs show tavis smiley, tavis smiley and princeton university professor dr. cornel west. >> seriously, i cannot believe the good doctor is still able to hang out with tavis after all this time. >> they are getting tired of epa other. >> jesus says forgive 70 times 7. dr. west, he's beyond that. what do you do after you get to 70 times 7. it's a perfect number.

it's a large number but -- >> you're funny, brother joe. >> thank you, brother cornel. >> they are co-hosts of smiley and west, radio show and co-authors of "the rich and the rest of us, a poverty manifesto" which every day becomes more and more appropriate to the times. >> tavis, four years ago you wrote a book after president obama and got elected. everybody was so excited about his election. you said you were going to hold the president account able. i'm sure many believe it's republican's fault that the rich get richer, poor get poorer. we do have a president of the united states while the rich kept getting ripper and the poor kept getting poorer. whose fault is this and does the president bear part of the blame? >> when i wrote that book, i was roundly criticized by some in my own community, the african-american community. i became sort of a pariah, sort of persona non grata for holding this and every other president account able.

i've done that for the balance of my career, trying to raise these political issues. when the president ran four years ago, he ran -- these are his words not mine. he wanted to eradicate poverty, raise minimum wage to at least $9 an hour. >> what happened? >> he inherited a huge mess. things got worse when he got there. we have to be honest, the republicans said no every time he said yes, they said stop when he said go. certainly up against a major headwind. the problem is though, i think too often he's compromised, capitulated, caved on things that could matter. my granddad said sometimes you've got to draw a line in the sand and declare some fights aren't worth fighting if you win but some fights you have to fight if you lose. american people want to see him fight more. poverty numbers on top of the job numbers indicate joe, milk ark, willie, that poverty is the new norm in the country. it ought to be abnormal but it's the new normal and that's

unacceptable. >> cornel, can you go to k street and see lobbyists for oil companies, telecom companies, just about every other company in america but in washington -- barnacle asked this question the last hour, who is the lobbyist for the poor. >> we have marian and a few others. we have to reach the very sad conclusion that the system is failing poor people, that it's not working for poor people and we have warped priorities in the way in which we proceed. if, in fact, we can put poor people and working people at the center, because keep in mind, working poor, which ought to be an oxymoronic term is growing in this society. it has to do with the fact minimum wage needs to be increased. look what's going on in chicago in terms of the struggle, not just teachers versus the city but it is a class struggle going on in terms of teachers who ought to be dignified, treated in a dignified way being oftentimes pushed back, wages

stagnating. we need new priorities, brother, and sister mika and brother willie. >> there you go. tavis, you've been critical of the president, obviously. but we are in election season. so the alternative at this point would be mitt romney. is that a good alternative in terms of these issues? >> my alternative is to ask for truth, to ask both of them to be honest and level with the american people. my alternative is to hold both of them accountable. dr. west and i said consistently on this tour, this issue and many other issues, we think barack obama is clearly a better choice than mitt romney on many of these issues. i find this interesting, mika, and i'm sure you saw this. "new york times" and their search engine allowed us to discover democrats use poor or poverty three times for every 25,000 words at their convention. three times for 25,000 words the poor poor or poverty and bill clinton said it 11 times on the record, of course he spoke for

two hours longer than anybody else, so he had more time to get it out. republicans used the word poverty five times for every 25,000 words. when it comes to raising the issue the republicans did it interestingly more than democrats did. p here is the point. that's lip service. there ought to be a white house conference on eradication of poverty. democrats said when barack obama got elected, lilly ledbetter, we support that. the first thing he does call a white house conference on eradication of poverty. bring experts together, craft a bipartisan plan to cut it in half or eradicate or alleviate in in 2025. it's not a skill problem but a will problem. do we have the will? >> i do think it's clear the idea brother mitt romney he's cashingized by med okiocracy.

we want the president to be more bold. we're going to put the pressure on the president. i think he'll win by a landslide. put pressure on the prosecutes. he's still too tied to wall street an not main street. poor people and working people must be center stage. >> joe, quickly, i hope debate moderators, you recall from 2008, three debates between osh and mccain, the word poor or poverty didn't come up one time in the debates. they didn't raise it, moderators didn't ask about it. respectfully and lovingly two more moderators back on the stage this time around. we can't allow debates where they do not put the issue of poverty front and center. let's see the two of them go at it and tell the american people what their plan is going to be to make poverty a priority. >> willie, there's a miss perception in the media, by many

americans about the face of poverty. there's an assumption that the face of poverty are african-americans, hispanics, other people of color. the fact of the matter is more whites are going into poverty now at a faster rate than anybody else. more whites moving to food stamps at a faster rate than anybody else. thisses not just an issue for people of color. this is an issue that's affecting every single demographic in america. >> there's been a lot of talk about this campaign about food stamps. newt gingrich and others have called president obama the food stamp president. some saw that as a racial term but the truth is, as you point out, more white people are on food stamps. this is a problem for america not one race or the other. >> brother joe, think about what you said. if there's a white face on poverty as opposed to a black face, does that mean a black life has less value than white life. we know human life has exactly the same status. in the middle east muslim same at christian, arab same as

american life. a palestinian life has the same value as a jewish life, on and on and on. how do we reach that kind of eagle tarrian sensibility. as christians we're ready to live and die. >> you're charitable calling brother tavis a christian. i'm joking. it's too much fun. too much fun. >> wow. >> brother tavis, i love you, baby. >> a christian is a redeemed sinner with gangster proclivity. >> amen, christians are sinners, too. >> but redeemed, but redeemed. keep in mind, theological seminary. >> i love it. >> tavis, he has the nerve to call you brother tavis after saying that about you. >> i'm having fun with it. >> joe is our brother, mika is our sister.

>> i want to ask you shines the light on education, as you know very well education is the lift up out of poverty for so many people. we know statistic, people in high school and people who graduate college. it's very simple. you go school, have a better chance of getting a job. what are some of the things you've been talking about and in turn hearing about on the road about making education better and stronger than it is to get people out of poverty. >> a great question. both the left and right agree on what you laid out. link between education and poverty, we talk about that extensively in our book. here is the question, education is no longer the great equalizer it used to be. talk to millions of americansish the former medal class who now are the new poor, who have degrees coming out their ears. it's not a matter of them being miseducated or uneducated, they have done everything they were supposed to do.

because of corporate greed and political indifference they have lost their jobs, their homes, their 401 (k)s, their savings. many americans now are struggling in silence. they are struggling. they don't want americans to know their neighbors and family and friends to know how bad off they are because we've made poverty and the word "poor" such a pejorative. we're so subjective about it. not just subjective but negative in terms of how we demonize and stigmatize poor people. the reality is it's not just about having education these days. to many americans who have degrees out looking for jobs, we've seen that at every stop oonlg tour, right now going to four battleground states, ohio, virginia, today pennsylvania, tomorrow florida. hearing that story, willie, everywhere we go. >> tavis and cornel, wouldn't you agree, though, before you get talking about main street and wall street that the key years k through 4, k through 5

critical in attacking poverty. more than anything else. k through 4. grab a child when a child is an infant and get the child on the ground toward good information. >> the data suggests it might be 0 to 6 and k through 4 being the next crucial stage. really 0 to 6 we've got to get them very, very early. one reason why my dear brother bill bradley always talk about zeroing in on those programs from birth to kindergarten. >> hey, you know, by the way, a question for you, mika, what percentage of media stories involving this campaign have focused on the poor? let me guess. >> well, do we koucht this one? >> 0 right now according to

this, 0 to 2%. >> how about afghanistan. >> the poverty tour. >> what we should be talking about. >> in philadelphia, logon to poverty tour.smiley and west for more details. >> thank you, guys. >> the book is "the rich and the rest of us" tavis smiley. >> i still love you, joe. >> you too, baby. come back to the studio soon. >> stay strong. >> cornel west. >> looking so happy if they sat next to you every day. always on satellite safely tucked away so they can laugh at the jokes. >> nice to me. >> when we come back, the new look, "usa today" will bring in the paper's publisher and president larry cramer next on "morning joe." woman 1: this isn't just another election. we're voting for...

the future of our medicare and social security. man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org

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how does it look, joe? >> looks great. >> looks good? >> packed with more news. >> it's clean. i like the book. >> you have a newspaper. joining us now -- >> there's also like this killer ad. >> that's different. >> somebody else -- somebody new is blocking the school room door, school house door talking

about chicago. it's laid out very, very well. >> joining us now from washington, the president and publisher of "usa today" larry cramer, the paper celebrating its 30th anniversary today with a top to bottom redesign of its print, online and app editions. it is completely different. if i say so myself, it looks fantastic. >> we really like it. talk about why the reboot. >> you know, we did a lot of research, wen out and talked to people. we wanted to refresh the brand. most of the people we talked to -- everybody in this country loves "usa today." it was an amazing experience to ask, even people who didn't read us liked us. they all said we had broken all the rules and changed everything 30 years ago but what have you done lately. so the last few years great journalism but haven't changed it much. as you know, a lot changed in journalism and how we present

news. we had to freshen up on the paper and in all our digital devices. one unified look and design we thought could carry over and go with our readers as they go back and forth between the paper and website and their phones, et cetera. >> "usa today" is known -- i'm sorry, barnacle, so successful, visually as well. do you find -- you don't even have it in front of you. >> cover to cover. >> i read it this morning. larry, the newspaper, great newspaper, "usa today," great newspaper, i've always likened them to supermarkets you go down one aisle p. you don't see anything you like, the next aisle, next section, whatever. in putting this redesign together and talking to as many people as you clearly talked to, were there any cons, as opposed to the pros about the new redesign? >> yeah, i think we had to accept the fact that some of the things that made us great 30 years ago in today's world really didn't matter anymore. you know, i used to love when i

first read this paper when it first came out, i could go into a hotel room in cincinnati and read about the giants, read four paragraphs on the giants, box score and all that. that was really important then because it was hard to get out of town scores anywhere. people really wanted it. today i'm watching the giants game on my ipad in the hotel room. so we have to change what we're doing, have to be more unique. our individual voices of reporters had to really be a lot more pronounced. people had to see a different personality. they look for that because of twitter and facebook. >> exactly. >> long-winded john heilemann has a short question. >> a real short question for you. it's a yes or no answer. can you imagine a future where "usa today" doesn't have a print edition, all electronic? >> you know, i don't think so but we'll be prepared if that's the case. it's going to be up to the readers. i can't tell you what people are going to be reading this paper on in two years much less 50. we're watching that evolve so

much every day that we're -- you know, we're track. our job is to be everywhere people want us to be. >> congratulations. larry, cramer, thank you. coming up fed announces stimulus, jump-start economy, business before the bell is next. with the spark miles card from capital one,

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the equity summary score is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today and explore your next investing idea. a big announcement from fed chair. live at cnbc washington headquarters. >> good morning, guys. ben bernanke is putting his pedal to the medal announcing the fed reserve continuing with quantitative easing, qe 3 drove the dow jones industrial average up. a massive rally stocks are at

highs they haven't seen since 2007. what the fed said it's going to do is buy about $40 billion a month of mortgage-backed securities. that's going to inject a lot of money bought u.s. economy and should help boost the recovery. for the first time the fed said they are going to focus on the jobs number specifically. remember, the fed has a dual mandate of both low inflation and unemployment. they are now saying they are tying their efforts to unemployment. they want this to be seen as an effort for hiring and jobs. big dramatic move from the feds yesterday. >> thanks so much. >> willie, desperate times call for desperate measures. >> it is. >> political implications. >> thank you. >> september election year. up next -- >> is he going to do anything, though? >> what? >> the economy. >> turned around. >> seriously they are doing everything they can, throwing

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all right. we've reached that time of the

morning. it's time for the weekend review. >> look at the bunny. look at the bunny. >> at number three, making it rain. >> he is throwing money out of the car. >> a bizarre high-speed chase around los angeles this week as bank robbers driving a safe, sensible and stolen volvo suv begin tossing their loot out the window by the handful. >> like at least $5, $15. >> in an improvised battle for hearts and minds as they drove through the streets of california, the criminals showered local neighborhoods with cash. the lapd, though, not won over by their robin hood story. >> this is a mob scene. >> at number two, illegal monkey living on frosted flakes bites woman. that was the near perfect headline that rocketed around the internet this week after the "l. a. times" reported the story of an obese pet that taught its owner the hard way a monkey

cannot live on frosted flakes and frosted flakes alone. >> they are great. >> the overweight 22-year-old monkey who finally revolted against the helicopter mom is now under the care of a conservation group and being fed a diet of fruits, vegetables. the number one story of the week. president obama spent most of the week, of course, on serious matters of foreign policy, but he was able to carve out a little time in his schedule for impromptu bear hugging. >> you're like the biggest pizza parlor owner i've ever seen, man. >> after romantic laughing and back slapping the 260 owner of a florida pizza joint went all in wrapping up the leader of the free world and lifting him off the ground. the bear hug was an act of love but one was left to wonder where exactly is the secret service intervention threshold if not

during a big john stud style submission hold. on top of that, the president found a new way to get financial institutions lending again. bank robbers in volvos. >> throwing money out of the car. >> it took a long time but finally got a big john stud reference in week in review. up next, what did we learn today? . so you brushed with colgate total and you didn't.

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welcome back to "morning joe." kids, we have the new contest called caption that picture. this is a picture we're going to show for the weekend. caption this. >> fun. >> willie, what did you learn today? >> i don't even know what's happening in that picture. i'd like to know what's happening. >> we're not going to show it to you again. >> halperin. >> these are three unpredictable hours on television. >> i saw the picture, i have the caption. cowards. >> what did you learn? >> i saw mika give a right cross to a photograph. >> it was incredible. >> you want a right cross. >> no. >> keep your questions short, okay? i'm good. you all are a bunch of fools and very mean. >> we're mean?

>> yes. >> oh my god. >> i can't take it. >> you're our role model. >> so what did we learn today mittically as it seems like the romney campaign is backing off a little bit of the criticism. they get republicans, especially the movement conservatives circling around. things are looking tough. >> losing every big state. >> losing every big state. florida, if you're down by five in florida and you're a republican, you're in trouble. ohio is even worse. colorado down five there. you know what, they are going to have to shake up that campaign or this race is over in a week. >> jon huntsman doesn't know what mitt romney stands for in terms of foreign policy. >> that's bad. we have jon huntsman on, mark halperin and asked him what his foreign policy is, mitt romney's. >> basically said no idea. >> is that a good thing or bad thing? >> it's the least of mitt romney's worries. >> calling ed gillespie. >> i also learn